As Jesus and
his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named
Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who
sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was
distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and
asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by
myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord
answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only
one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

We may not think about it every single day, but we
sure appreciate the way God cares for our needs, don’t we? If you take the time to think about what it
would be like to go days without food, water, clothing or shelter, you’ll know
exactly what I’m talking about. We sure
are blessed!

But you know what?
Those so called “needs” aren’t really needs at all. At least not when you compare them to the “one thing needed” that Jesus mentions in
the verses above.

Food can nourish our bodies—water can keep us
hydrated—clothing and shelter can keep us protected and warm—but none of those
things can cleanse us of our sin. None
of those things can make us live forever.
These so called “needs” only prolong the inevitable. No matter how much food we eat—no matter how
much water we drink—no matter how expensive our clothes and shelters are—we are
all sinners and we are all going to die.

The Word of God is the one thing needed because it’s
the Word of God that tells us all we need to know about the serious nature of
our sin and the incomprehensible love of our God. Through his Word our God speaks to us plain as
day. He tells us that our sins make us
worthy of eternal death in hell. And
then he tells us that he’s taken care of those sins. He tells us that we no longer need to fear
hell. He tells us we can instead look
forward to a perfect existence with him in heaven that will never end!

Every day that we have food to eat, water to drink,
clothes to wear and a roof over our heads, we know our God is providing for our
“needs.” Make sure you don’t let those
“needs” overshadow the one thing you truly need. Pull that Bible off the shelf and spend some
time with your God! He knows you and I need
his Word more than anything else. That’s
why he gave it to us!